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Americans have always despised mercenaries. Our dislike of hired killers dates back to the days of our Founding Fathers. When Washington crossed the Delaware to defeat the Hessians at Trenton, he targeted hirelings who’d burned, raped and murdered their way across northern New Jersey.

During our Civil War, the fiercest insult Southerners hurled across the Potomac was the accusation that the Irish immigrants inducted into the Union armies were mercenaries. Men who fought for pay alone were repulsive to American values.

And now the United States has become the world’s No. 1 employer of hired thugs. By a conservative count, we and our partners in Iraq employ 5,000 armed American and other Western expatriates, at least 10,000 third-country-nationals or TCNs, and upwards of 15,000 Iraqis who should be serving their own country in uniform.

George Washington must be grinding his false teeth in heaven.

To be fair, not all of the mercenaries your tax dollars pay create problems (although they all pose moral issues). TCNs, such as the Peruvian guards in the Green Zone and Ugandans guarding mess halls on Marine forward operating bases, usually take their responsibilities seriously. As for the Iraqi hires, it’s a constant game of “Who Do You Trust?”

The gravest problems arise from the collection of psychos, misfits, sadists and can’t-make-it-back-home gunslingers employed by the “private security contractors” or PSCs. For one American tax dollar to go to these thugs is a travesty.

Again, it’s vital to be fair – and PSCs come in a wide range of flavors. Some contractors are disciplined and wary of doing harm. Nor could we do without them, having painted ourselves into an ugly corner by making a religious cult of privatization and outsourcing. Our troops abroad now depend on contractors for elementary services.

Nonetheless, rogue elements within the security contractor world do so much damage to our strategic goals and international relationships that it’s hard not to conclude that we should just shut them down and do the best we can without them.

The most notorious recent incident occurred two weeks ago, when gunmen from Blackwater USA, an organization that’s created far more than its fair share of trouble, shot up a crowd of Iraqi civilians in a thriving district of Baghdad.

The details remain murky – and Blackwater and its State Department defenders are doing all they can to make them murkier. But most accounts, whether from “our” Iraqis or U.S. soldiers who rushed to the scene, pin the blame on Blackwater’s thugs.

The information emerging suggests that, in the course of a routine escort mission for American diplomats, at least one of the Blackwater boys either imagined a threat or just felt like busting some caps. A woman and child died in a car (which did not carry any bombs). Up to 10 more unarmed Iraqis were slaughtered in a tempest of automatic weapons fire. Up to two dozen were wounded.

The firepower employed by Blackwater was better suited to a full-scale combat engagement with an enemy army than it was to the protection of a diplomat – who was, apparently, never in any danger.

Blackwater claims that Iraqi security forces returned fire at its convoy. Well, if they did, they were awfully brave, since the Iraqi police don’t have the kind of heavy weaponry packed by Blackwater’s gunmen (without proper licenses, at that). On the contrary, reports suggest that Blackwater’s men just got into a partying spirit, emptying additional magazines long after any threat had evaporated. Some accounts describe internal confrontations between Blackwater supervisors and sadists who wouldn’t stop shooting.

With Blackwater reinforcing its thugs with its own helicopter gunships and Iraqi security forces begging for help to save civilian lives, the U.S. Army had to step in and enforce a cease-fire.

Oh, one Blackwater employee did suffer a minor injury. And a number of the company’s vehicles were scratched. Guess that makes up for the dead mom and her kid.

In war, the innocent die. Got it. And no apologies are necessary for legitimate casualties in the course of combat. But there’s no excuse for killing the innocent just for a hoot.

Blackwater couldn’t care less – if it did, it would press for prosecutions itself. Instead, the company works the loopholes in the shabby system the State Department forced on the government of Iraq.

And who gets the blame? Our troops. Iraqis just see all of the pale faces with guns as Americans. They don’t differentiate between the honorable men and women in uniform and the narcissistic killers who adorn themselves with knives and cop-killer side arms – and who look like rejects from professional wrestling.

And, as any soldier in Iraq can tell you, one contractor shoot-’em-up can ruin months of progress. (Of course, the contractors don’t make money off of progress – a peaceful Iraq would be terrible for business.)

Speaking with Army officers in Iraq, you’ll find some who defend specific security contractors as responsible and valuable. I’ve personally seen some who behaved with discipline and professionalism. But I couldn’t find one military officer who had a good word to say about Blackwater – the kindest comment came from a major on a repeat tour who told me that “given my own dealings with them in ’05, this latest incident [has] not come as a surprise to me.”

A well-placed colonel had believed that Blackwater’s cowboy years had been back in 2004 and 2005. He’d hoped that the company was now under control.

It wasn’t.

Another officer recalled his experiences up-country on his last tour of duty. A rival of Blackwater’s, Triple Canopy, escorted State reps who visited his unit’s area. The security details always checked in, got briefed, confirmed the route status, made sure the Army knew when they entered and exited the sector, and even asked if any large gatherings of Iraqis were expected – so they could bypass them. The soldiers and the contractors from Triple Canopy “developed a rapport.”

Then Blackwater took over the escort mission. The officer “got a decidedly different impression of the guys I came in contact with . . . Security officers who came to the TOC [tactical operations center] were swaggering, arrogant and didn’t want to be bothered knowing about the route status . . . I clearly remember the first day I met them [and] began the standard brief I would give to Triple Canopy. The Blackwater guy threw up his hand and said dismissively, ‘I’m good to go, Hoss.'”

Soon after that, Blackwater gunmen shot up some locals, killing one civilian and wounding several others. They didn’t bother to inform the Army unit responsible for the area – which had to pick up the pieces. Our troops hadn’t known that State had anyone in the area that day and only found out after the damage was done.

How can it be that you and I are working and paying taxes to fund six-figure salaries for thugs who undercut our progress in Iraq, make a mockery of the values we profess, and trash America’s image?

The Bush administration has made sure that there’s no real accountability in the contracting arena, but the particular villain in this mess in the State Department. Our military has been doing all it can to keep Blackwater’s cowboys at arms’ length in Iraq. But State’s diplomats – the men and women theoretically responsible for building good relations with Iraqis – prefer the Blackwater approach (shoot first, and don’t bother asking questions).

To those who know little or nothing of State, it doesn’t make sense. Why should our diplomats, of all people, hire out-of-control gunslingers who routinely set back progress, who are despised by our military, who we protect from Iraqi or American justice – and who won’t even play by the loose rules laid down for security contractors in Iraq?

Actually, the answer’s simple: Our foreign service officers – the professional diplos – are just the most-frightened human beings you’ll ever meet (I swear they take showers in body armor). Although I’ve met some impressive State employees over the years, they’ve been the exceptions. The average junior FSO is cowardly, arrogant to a degree that would embarrass the Greek gods, and disdainful of anyone stupid enough to wear a military uniform.

Of course, State always wants to run the show – it just doesn’t want its diplomats to spill their Diet Cokes. Dead Iraqis? Better than stained trousers.

Let’s be clear: The real diplomacy in Iraq is being conducted by our soldiers and Marines. State has botched every single thing it touched, from the disastrous reign of “Jerry” Bremer to the botch-up with our imperial embassy compound (the hubris of which makes the Tower of Babel seem like a homeless shelter). And State firmly believes that the life of the lowliest diplomat is far more valuable than the life of any one else, American or Iraqi.

So State’s mission for Blackwater is straightforward: “Protect the principal.” Defend the diplomat, whatever the cost. Well, maybe it’s time for State to risk a few principals in support of America’s principles.

Our country has been dishonored. By our “Hessians.”

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of the recent book “Wars Of Blood And Faith.”

BLACKWATER USA

Founded: 1997 in North Carolina by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince

Logo: A bear claw within a rifle sight

Employees: It boasts a database of 20,000 men; it’s estimated they have about 1,000 contractors in Iraq.

Pay: Blackwater has four tiers of contractor. Tier 1, made up mostly of former military personnel, can pay $600-$650 a day, according to author Jeremy Scahill. The bottom tier, usually Iraqi locals, make much less. Scahill heard that Colombian contractors, at Tier 3, made as little as $34 a day.

Contracts: Over $700 million in State Department contracts alone since 2003, including a $27 million contract to guard Iraq administrator Paul Bremer for 11 months.

Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” (Nation Books), explains the meteoric ascent of the troubled private military contractor. Blackwater may not be the largest of these companies, “but it’s a high-end boutique on a strip-mall full of Wal-Marts. And it’s politically closest to the administration.”

1997 – Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL whose family is a major Republican donor, founds Blackwater Lodge and Training Center in North Carolina. The name is a tip of the hat to the local swamps, and it’s advertised as a sportsman’s paradise – though the company mentions that a growth area could be in the increased outsourcing of military contracts.

1999 – After the Columbine tragedy, Blackwater builds a mock high school called RU Ready High. Law enforcement officials from around the country train in the facility to respond to school shootings.

2000 – After the U.S.S. Cole bombing in Yemen, the U.S. Navy grants Blackwater a $35 million contract to train its sailors to respond to terrorist attacks.

2001 – After 9/11, Blackwater is granted its first contract in a military zone. Details are classified; Scahill believes the mission was to guard a structure in Afghanistan for the CIA.

2004 – In March, Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four Blackwater contractors, who were killed, their bodies hung from a Euphrates bridge. The company hired lobbyists from the Alexander Strategy Group the day after the ambush, and within a week Blackwater officials met with top GOP lawmakers. Three months later, Blackwater was awarded a $320 million contract to provide diplomatic security in Iraq.

2005 – After Hurricane Katrina, Blackwater is contracted to provide security, logistics and transport on the Gulf Coast. Its employees protect government facilities for the Department of Homeland Security.

2006 – On Christmas Eve, an off-duty Blackwater contractor shoots and kills a bodyguard for the Iraqi vice president inside the Green Zone. The Iraqis label it a “murder.” Blackwater admits it whisked the contractor out of Iraq.

2007 – On Sept. 16, at Nissor Square in Baghdad, Blackwater contractors get into a fire fight in which 11 Iraqis are killed. Blackwater officials say that they came under attack from multiple locations. According to an Iraqi investigation, the Blackwater contractors fired at a car that ignored warnings and Iraqi Army soldiers responded by firing on the Blackwater team, which was answered by more shooting. The next day, the Iraqi government revoked Blackwater’s license to operate in the country. So far the Bush administration has backed Blackwater. “The company has lost about 30 men in Iraq,” Scahill says. “They’ve never lost anyone they were assigned to protect. So there’s a lot of institutional loyalty.”